


Labor Day

by CBSlave737



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 04:44:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14845965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CBSlave737/pseuds/CBSlave737
Summary: Just something I did several years back featuring the original Avengers, minus Thor, taking a break for labor day.BBQ, pool games, water guns, snark and banter...what more do you need?





	Labor Day

A/N: I own nothing related to MARVEL except my merchandise.  
….  
….  
….  
“So labor day is in a couple of weeks.” Tony said to the group sitting around the common dining room table.  
“Yes, yes it is.” Said Steve.  
“We should do something.”  
“We will probably be on a mission.” Interjected Clint.  
“Fair point, but we might not be, so I think we should do something.”  
“What do you have in mind Tony?” Bruce asked.  
“I was thinking, the house in Malibu is finished, we take a few days off and have a BBQ by the pool.”  
“And has…” Steve started but was cut off by Tony.  
“Yes Pepper has already approved us going out there.”  
“I think we should do it, it will be nice to get away from here and relax.” Bruce said.  
“It will give me a chance to work on my tan.” Natasha said.  
“You don’t tan.”  
Natasha cocked her head and stared at Tony.  
“You spent time at the house and I never once saw you out by the pool.”  
“I was working Stark.” She pulled out one of her knives.  
“Nat.” Clint said with a warning tone in his voice.  
“I was only going to sharpen it.”  
“You don’t have a whetstone in here.” He pointed out.  
She raised an eyebrow at him.  
“Okay, point taken.” He conceded.  
“Anyways,” Steve broke in, “If this actually happens and we make it out to Malibu in one piece, what do you want to eat and who will make it?”  
“If we’re grilling, Clint cooks.” Natasha said,  
“Why does Robin Hood get control of the grill?” Tony inquired.  
“Can you even work a grill?”  
“I can take it apart and put it back together better than before.”  
“Doesn’t mean you can work it.”  
“It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to grill, I don’t mind doing it.” Clint said.  
“Can you do ribs?” asked Bruce.  
“Of course.”  
“Yum, then I personally am looking forward to this trip.” Steve said.  
“I think we all need a mini vacation.” Bruce said.  
“Hey some of us just got back from Bali.” Clint said.  
“To take out a rogue Hydra operation.” Bruce said.  
“And that’s not a vacation for you? I had fun.”  
“Of course you did, you had a mini fan club.” Tony said.  
“It’s not my fault that people appreciate my madly awesome archery skills.”  
“Are we sure that knock on the head didn’t do any real damage?” Natasha asked Bruce.  
“Only to his ego and that seems back to normal now.”  
“Hey, I am still right here you know.”  
“We know.” Tony said.  
“Ass.”  
“What did he do now?” Pepper asked walking into the room and depositing her briefcase on the counter.  
“Why do you always assume I did something, I am innocent some of the time.”   
“Being innocent 12% of the time means you are in, or causing, trouble more often than not.”  
“Thanks for the support dear.” He said letting her lean into his side while he wrapped an arm around her waist.  
“Anytime.” She said putting one arm across his shoulders and giving him a kiss to the side of the head while stealing a piece of bacon off his plate.  
“Why are you eating breakfast for dinner anyways?” she asked, moving to fix her own plate of pancakes.  
“We took a vote, Steve’s pancakes won out over Natasha’s pasta.” Tony answered.  
“Thank you Pepper, for offering your home to us for a BBQ.” Steve said, gracious as always.  
“You’re welcome Steve.” She said sitting down at the table and digging into her food. “Delicious as always.”   
....  
.....  
....  
“It’s 9:00AM, why are you messing with ribs now?” Tony asked walking into the kitchen.  
“Because slow cooked ribs are awesome, when you actually let them slow cook.” Clint said gathering up the BBQ supplies Pepper had bought and sent to the house.  
“Whatever you say man, we could have ordered take out.”  
Clint rolled his eyes and headed out the door he had left open after he had heated the grill.  
Natasha and Pepper were already set up in lounge chairs on one side of the pool while Steve was already making laps.  
Tony made his usually green plant smoothie thing and went outside to join Pepper.   
“Hey Spangles, if you want to take up swimming instead of that horrible 6 AM running I’ll have a pool put in at the tower.” Tony called out.  
Steve swam over to the side of the pool and lifted himself out. He toweled himself off before responding to Tony.  
“Actually, I took a run on the beach this morning.” He sat back in one of the lounge chairs.   
“Of course you did.”  
Clint came over and took a seat next to Natasha.  
“Are you done playing with the grill?” she asked him.  
“For now.” He replied.  
“Good,” she leaned over a little bit to pick something off the ground. “I need sunscreen.”  
“Swap places.” He stood back up so she could move forward to make room for him.  
“Look at you two, being all coupley.” Tony said with a smirk.  
“I can always do you next, Tony.” Clint offered.  
“No thank you. That’s what Pepper is for.”  
“Well I plan to read, and since I don’t want my hands greasy, I think you should accept Clint’s offer.”  
Clint and Steve laughed while Natasha rolled her eyes at Tony’s loss of words for a comeback.  
He gave Pepper his best little boy look. “Please Pepper, Legolas might get ideas.”  
She rolled her eyes but gave him a smile. “Of course Tony.”  
Tony turned and stuck his tongue out at Clint.  
“I’ll put it on now, if you want to remove your shirt.” She offered.  
Tony sat his glass down and removed his wife beater. Pepper had picked up the bottle and was fixing to squirt some into her palm when Steve leaned over and took the bottle from her. She looked over at her favorite super soldier and relinquished the bottle at the look of childish mischievousness on his face. She leaned slightly away so Steve could get Tony’s back.  
Steve was adding pressure to the rubbing in a sort of massage.   
“Mmm, Pep. You’re amazing.”   
Steve leaned in a spoke directly in Tony’s ear, “Thanks, Stark.”   
Everyone laughed when Tony jumped up and almost fell over in his haste to turn around.  
“Not cool, Spangles. How could you let him do that to me, Pepper?”  
“You like to try new things, besides, you were enjoying it.”  
“I enjoyed it because I thought it was you.” He turned back to Clint and Natasha. “And you two just let it happen. Some friends you are.”  
They shared a look and then shrugged together.  
“You’ll be okay Tony.” Clint said.  
After everyone finished putting sunscreen on, the guys got into the pool. They were doing some sort of race thing when Bruce showed up outside with water guns, already filled with water.   
“I waited until they were distracted before coming out. I thought we could have some fun.” He said giving the ladies a gun each, and keeping one for himself.  
“Cold water?” Natasha asked sitting up and taking aim.  
“Almost to the point of freezing.” He replied with a smile.  
“Awesome.” She smirked, keeping her eyes trained on Clint.  
“Ready?” asked Bruce.  
“Set.” Came Pepper.  
“Shoot.” Said Natasha.  
They all started shooting, causing the guys in the pool to start hollering. Clint recovered from the surprise first and started throwing water out of the pool in the general direction of the three attackers. Even though most of his counter attacks fell short, Steve and Tony took his lead and started throwing more water at them. Clint swam over to the edge, trying to keep the stream of water off his face. He lifted himself out of the pool, which caused Natasha to jump up and make a move for some sort of cover.  
“Not this time, Nat.” Clint called.  
Clint was stalking Natasha around the pool when she ran out of water in her gun.  
“Damn.” She said tossing the gun into the pool. She stood her ground and waited for Clint to get closer.  
When he was within feet from her, she took a step toward him and pretended to stumble.  
Clint had seen her do this move dozens of times for her marks, so instead of just catching her he swept her off her feet and without pausing jumped into the pool.   
When they resurfaced, Clint had swum to the far end of the pool hoping Natasha wouldn’t drown him.  
She started to swim to him, when a big splash interrupted her movements. She started treading water and trying to take stock of what happened.   
“I can’t believe you did that Tony!” yelled Pepper as she came up sputtering from her impromptu swim.   
“Of course, you can. It is me after alllll!” Tony trailed off in a yell as the surface of the pool came up to meet him.  
He surfaced to find Bruce doubled over laughing at him.  
“Brucie!” Tony whined.  
“It’s your turn Banner.” Said Steve, coming up behind Bruce.  
“Nope.” Bruce jumped into the pool on his own.  
“Come on in Steve, the water is just fine.” Said Clint.  
Steve went around to the dive board, “My turn.” He bounced once before doing a cannon ball and splashing everyone else in the pool.  
...  
....  
...  
Everyone played in the pool until Clint got up to check the temperature on the ribs. Pepper got out with Clint to read her book like she had originally planned. When Clint returned to the pool he found that they had dragged a net across the pool and were fixing to start a game of water volleyball.   
“Cool, I want to play.” He said.  
“Good, because I don’t” Bruce said. “I’ll be the ref.”  
“We don’t need a ref, just a score keeper.” Tony said.  
Bruce stared at him, “Have you met you? You need a couple of refs.”  
“I take offense to that.” Tony said.  
“You shouldn’t.” piped up Pepper.  
“Anyways, who plays who?” Broke in Steve.  
Natasha and Clint shared a look before they both smirked and made their way to opposite sides of the net. Natasha grabbed Tony’s shoulder and tugged him with her to their side of the net.  
“So Natasha and Tony on one side, Clint and Steve on the other.” Bruce listed.  
“Yeah we got that.”  
“Shut it Stark.”  
Bruce picked up the inflated ball. “Okay, pick a number between one and ten, closest to my number wins first serve.”  
“One!”  
“Eight!”  
“Steve and Clint serve first, my number was seven.” Bruce tossed Clint the ball.  
They played several rounds before calling it quits when Tony and Clint both fell onto the net.  
“Clint and Steve win.” announced Bruce.  
“Cheats.” Pouted Tony, collapsing on a chair by Pepper.  
Clint went to check on the grill and Natasha went with him. The rest of the group stayed by the chairs, talking.  
“Tony, could you reapply my sunscreen please.”   
“What do I get out of it?” he asked her, even though he was already picking up the bottle.  
Pepper got up and leaned over him, making sure he got a good look at her assets.   
“I bet I can make it very worth your while, later.” She said kissing him.  
“Can’t wait.” He mumbled against her lips.  
“Um hmm.” Steve cleared his throat.  
“Go away.” Said Tony, capturing Pepper’s lips again before she pulled away with a smile.  
She sat down in front of him so he could start rubbing the cream in.  
“Bruce, you’re starting to look a little red, want me to put sunscreen on your back?” Pepper asked.  
“I’m fine.” He said.  
“Come on Brucie, Pepper promises to be gentle, wont you Pep?”  
“Of course, I only offer because being sunburned sucks. I don’t want you to be hurting later.” She said.  
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be okay. Thank you.”  
“Okay, if you change your mind, just let me know.”  
Bruce sent her a shy smile before turning to look for the two missing members of their team.   
“I’m going inside for a drink, anyone else want something?” he asked standing up.  
“A water please.” Steve said, which was dittoed by the other two.  
He found Clint and Natasha in the kitchen working across the island from each other.  
“Whatcha doing?” he asked moving to the fridge to pull out a bottle of water.  
“Seasoning steaks.”  
“I’m making a cake.”  
“Hey Natasha, when you get a moment can I see you in the other room please.”  
“Of course. Same thing as earlier?” she asked with a knowing look.  
“Yes please.”  
“Give me about five minutes and I’ll be in there.”  
“Thanks.” Bruce took his bottle of water and went into the living room.  
….  
…..  
“Could you rub some more on my back, Pepper?” Steve asked as his ears reddened.  
“Of course Steve, can’t have Captain America running around looking like a tomato, can we?” she asked picking up the bottle.  
“I’d rather not.” He said.  
“I think it would be funny.” offered Tony.  
“Stand up Steve.” Ordered Pepper, standing up herself.  
“No ideas, Spangles.” Tony said watching Pepper and Steve.  
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Stark. Everyone knows Pepper is devoted to you, just as you are to her.”  
“Better believe it.” Tony said as Pepper turned her head to grin at Tony.  
“We got lucky.” Pepper said.  
“Yeah we did.” Tony said.  
“All done.” Pepper said backing away from Steve.  
“Thanks Pepper.”  
“My turn.” Tony announced leaning forward.  
“I guess.” She said straddling the chair and starting on Tony’s back.  
….  
….  
“I appreciate this, Natasha.” Bruce said as she rubbed sunscreen on his back.  
“No problem, Bruce.”   
She finished up and turned to find Clint standing in the doorway watching.   
“Hey Clint.” Called Bruce without even turning around.  
“Banner.” Clint said entering the room finally.  
“Stop it.” Natasha said.  
“Didn’t do anything.” Clint said.  
“He’s fine. I understand.” Banner walked into the kitchen.  
Natasha turned to Clint and fixed him with a hard stare. Clint, unfazed by the look being sent his way, slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.   
“Sorry, Tasha.”  
“No you’re not.” She said giving in and wrapping her arms around him as well.  
“I love you.” He said kissing her hair.  
“I love you too Clint.” She nipped at his collarbone before capturing his lips in hers.  
Bruce turned away from the doorway and grabbing more bottles of water, he headed outside, planting a smile on his face as he rejoined the group.  
“What took so long?” Tony asked accepting a bottle.  
“I was talking to Natasha and Clint. They were preparing more food.”  
“Good, I’m getting hungry.” Steve said.  
“You’re always hungry.”  
“It’s not my fault I have a fast metabolism.” He defended himself.  
....  
....  
...  
“Hey guys, dinner is ready!” Clint called.   
Pepper and Natasha were already setting a table with plates and a big bowl of salad while the guys got out of the pool and dried off.  
“Wow.” Said Steve, taking a seat at the table.  
“Everything looks good.” Bruce said taking in the mounds of meat piled around the table.  
“Ribs, steaks, brats, and hamburgers, along with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.” Clint listed.  
“You really out did yourself today Clint, thank you.” Pepper said.  
“You’re welcome.” He looked around at his teammates plus Pepper, “Dig in.”   
There was a little confusion, mixed with a lot of laughter while everyone grabbed for the things they wanted.  
There was actual silence for a few minutes while everyone started on their plates.  
“You’re right, Legolas, slow cook ribs are good.”  
“Good? They’re awesome.” Steve said.  
“Thanks, guys.”  
“Know what would make this night even better?” Tony asked.  
“If everything I’m eating was calorie and fat free?” Pepper said, making Natasha agree.  
“Fireworks. A huge firework show.”  
“Let me guess, you just happen to have something planned.” Clint asked.  
“Actually, Bruce and I have a show planned.”  
“Of course you do.” Steve said.  
“It’s going to be totally awesome. We made everything ourselves.”  
“So lots of lights, lots of explosions.” Clint guessed.  
“Exactly.”   
“It won’t be that bad, I did keep an eye on things.” Bruce spoke up.  
“And for that, we are all grateful.” Pepper said. “I don’t think I’m up for a trip to the ER tonight.”  
“So little faith.” Tony said, placing a hand over his heart. “You wound me.”  
“Oh, I have faith…in Bruce.” She said with a smirk.  
Clint and Steve laughed at Tony’s expression, which Pepper leaned over and gave him a peck on the check to help soften.  
“There is dessert inside, when you are ready.” Natasha said as Steve and Clint started reaching for seconds.  
“Natasha made cake.” Bruce said.  
“The Widow can cook, who knew?” Tony asked rhetorically.  
A chorus of ‘I did’ resounded from around the table.  
“Know it alls.” He muttered, reaching for another steak.  
“You wouldn’t have us any other way.” Clint said.  
Natasha excused herself from the table a little bit later and came back with a frosted cake.  
“Chocolate?” Pepper asked.  
“Of course, chocolate cake with chocolate icing. It’s a holiday, I figured we could splurge.”  
“Mmm, good call.” Pepper said.  
They sat around eating cake while the sun sat behind them. When Tony had decided it was dark enough, he grabbed Bruce and they disappeared into the house.  
“Should we warn the locals that there may be some explosions up here?” Steve asked.  
“I’ve already taken care of it. With Tony being Tony, I’ve been on a first name basis with the heads of the police and fire departments for years now. I’ve already sent them both a text message alerting them to the possibilities of an explosion, but not to worry. I told them the Avengers were here to take care of anything that might go wrong.”  
“Thank you for that.” Natasha said.  
“Well, here’s hoping Bruce actually did manage to calm things down.” Clint said.  
Bruce and Tony came back outside, both carrying big boxes. They went out to the cliff edge to start setting up while the others decided to finish cleaning up from dinner.   
“Okay guys, we’re ready.” Bruce called out.  
Bruce joined the group back on the patio while Tony stayed by the boxes.  
“Okay, Tony. Everyone is ready.”  
They watched Tony lean over one of the boxes then there was a flash of light and Tony came jogging over to them.  
“Wait for it.” Tony warned them.  
All of a sudden there was a big flash followed by a loud bang and the show started.   
They had rigged up a system that once the initial fuse had been lit, it jumped to the next fuse automatically so they only had to light the box once.  
The group awed over the bursting lights and complemented Tony and Bruce.   
“Too bad Thor isn’t here.” Tony said. “I could so convince him this is magic.”  
“He knows what real magic is.” Bruce pointed out.  
“But this is Earth magic, completely different.”  
“Whatever you say, Tony.”  
When the first box had finished, Bruce went over to light the second one. The awed just as much over this one as they did the first one.  
That was awesome guys, thanks.” Clint said once the show was over.  
“We should do this again sometime.” Steve said.   
“Okay, next 4th of July, it’s a date. Pepper, make a note we need that weekend off.”  
“Of course, will that be all Mr. Stark?”  
“Yes, that will be all Miss. Potts.” He said out loud, then leaned into her to whisper, “For now.” He kissed the side of her head.  
“As fun as today has been, I’m really tired. I think I’m going to head to bed already.” Bruce said.  
“I second that.” Clint said, heading inside with Bruce, although they were soon followed by the rest of the group.  
“I think it’s safe to say we are all tired. We’ll see you in the morning guys.” Pepper said grabbing Tony’s hand to lead him up the stairs to their room.  
“Goodnight everyone.” Pepper added once they had reached the top of the stairs.

A/N: Okay so there it is, my Labor Day 2015 story. Please let me know what you thought by leaving me a review.


End file.
